Jharkhand’s Champai Soren Says Won’t Quit Politics, May Float A New Outfit

Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren said he would not quit politics, asserting that an option to float a new political outfit was always open to him. The development comes after he indicated that he was upset over the treatment he received and gave a detailed account of it in an X post. 

Mr Soren, also known as “Jharkhand’s Tiger” for his contribution to the formation of the state, said he was firm on his plans after “facing humiliation at the hands of leaders of JMM”, a party to which the veteran leader claimed that he devoted his entire life.

“It is a new chapter of my life. I won’t quit politics as I have received lots of love and support from my followers. The chapter has closed, I may form a new outfit,” the senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader said shortly after he reached his ancestral village Jhilingora in Seraikela-Kharsawan district post midnight on Tuesday.

“I’ll strengthen the new organisation and if I find a good friend in the way, I’ll move ahead with that friendship to serve the people and state… Everything will become clear in a week,” Mr Soren added.

“No one from JMM contacted me. This is the land of Jharkhand…I have struggled since my student life. I participated in the agitation for a separate Jharkhand state under the leadership of party supremo Shibu Soren,” Champai Soren said.

“I posted what I felt was proper. The entire country is aware of what I thought,” he said, referring to his post on X on August 18.

Champai Soren had said he experienced “bitter humiliation” as Chief Minister — his government programmes were cancelled by the party leadership without his knowledge; he was barred from attending programmes till a party meeting; being told at the meeting to write his resignation without any prior intimation.

– With Inputs from PTI